Snapshots: Subban, Roussel, Rust

Bon retour P.K.! That’s what the Bell Centre’s video board read as the crowd jumped to their feet so salute a former star returning last night. P.K. Subban made his return to Montreal as a member of the Nashville Predators and received quite the ovation from Canadiens fans, standing and cheering him on throughout his video tribute as tears rolled down the defenseman’s face. Arpon Basu of NHL.com writes that those tears are all we saw from the former Norris winner all night, as the Predators fell 2-1 on a last second goal from Paul Byron.

At ESPN, the insiders—including Craig Custance, Scott Burnside and Pierre LeBrun—take a look at the short and long term ramifications of the Subban-Weber trade 60 games in. Weber is signed for another nine seasons in Montreal, while Subban is only under contract through 2021-22.

The hits just keep on coming for the Dallas Stars, who lost Antoine Roussel last night to injury and likely for the year. Mike Heika of SportsDay reports that head coach Lindy Ruff expects Roussel to be “a while; in all likelihood the rest of the year.” Though the Stars aren’t really competing for a playoff spot any longer, Roussel was having a career year. He was just three points shy of setting a career-high in points, and would likely have broken his goal and assist marks as well with 20 games remaining.

Dave Molinari of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has some good news for Penguins fans, as he spotted Bryan Rust skating before practice. A playoff hero last season, Rust has been a solid contributor to the Penguins run this year. With 25 points in 50 games, he’s giving the team some excellent secondary scoring and is a useful piece up and down the lineup. Molinari also adds that new defenseman Mark Streit will be wearing #32 for the Penguins when he suits up for a game.